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Viloria vanquished American medal-hopeful ousted in second roundPosted: Friday September 22, 2000 12:00 AMUpdated: Thursday November 09, 2000 2:59 PM
SYDNEY (CNNSI.com) -- Brahim Asloum sent U.S. world champion Brian Viloria out of the light-flyweight compeition on Friday. The two last met at the 1999 world championships when they drew 4-4 and Viloria won on a tiebreak, going on to secure the title after beating Cuba's Maikro Romero. "It's complete revenge. I confirmed what happened at Houston," said the ecstatic Frenchman after securing his quarterfinal place with a 6-4 victory in the 106-pound bout (48 kg). French coach Dominique Nato said his boxer felt robbed of victory in Houston after Asloum had dominated their last fight only for Viloria to get two points in the last 15 seconds. "It's revenge and it's not over, he's going all the way," said Nato as Asloum, with the French flag dyed on the back of his head, raised his fists for the cameras.
Viloria was one of the U.S. team's top medal hopes and he was the third American to go out of the tournament. "He [Asloum] did the same things he did in Houston, this time I think he was throwing a lot more combinations and uppercuts," Viloria said. "Hopefully I can get back on my feet. I'll probably turn pro now." The difference in the outcome was three scoring right uppercuts by Asloum. Viloria landed at least a dozen solid body shots without scoring."I don't think I got enough credit for the body shots," Viloria said. He didn't get any -- not a single point. "Body shots have been counting," said Tom Mustin, head coach of the U.S. team. "I thought he threw some great body shots, but for some reason they didn't count." Mustin said their last fight was so close that they had prepared for a tough bout. "We worked on some things to be able to score, to bring his hands down but the guy had a great defense. He kept his hands in place and the body shots didn't bring them down at all." Asloum meets South Korean Kim Ki Suk in his next fight. While Viloria went out, 1996 flyweight champion Romero proceeded easily into the quarterfinals by outclassing Romanian Velicu Marian in the fourth round. He meets Ukrainian Valeri Sidorenko, who won through a walkover when Thailand's Suban Punnon was injured with the score 2-2. In the top half of the draw, Kenyan policeman Suleiman Bilali sped into the quarterfinals by stopping bemused South African Phumzile Matyhila in the first round with a barrage of punches. Matyhila took two standing eight counts and was then officially outclassed after one minute 57 seconds as Bilali notched up a 15-0 lead. "I don't know what happened in the ring," Matyhila said. "He's a good fighter." Bilali has boxing in his blood, with his older brother Ibrahim winning a bronze as a flyweight at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and his cousin Stephen Mushioki taking a world championship light-flyweight gold in 1978. "I knew I was going to win, not that easily," he said. Bilali meets Spanish veteran Rafael Lozano, a bronze medalist in Atlanta in 1996, in the last eight after the little man from Cordoba, who had a bye into the second round, snatched a late 17-15 victory from Filipino Danilo Lerio. Lerio, whose brother Arlan is also in the Filipino team, led going into the final round and was 14-12 ahead with just 20 seconds remaining in the fight. North Korean Kim Un-Chol reached the last eight with a 20-8 decision against Hungarian Pal Lakatos. He will fight Lithuanian Ivan Stapovic, who outpointed Mexican Liborio Romero 24-11, for a place in the medals. World 60-kilogram (132-pound) champion Mario Kindelan of Cuba reached the quarterfinals by outpointing Phongsit Wiangviset of Thailand 14-8. Also winning for Cuba was Jorge Gutierrez, who beat Antonnios Giannoulas of Greece at 75 kilograms (165 pounds). The Associated Press contributed to this report. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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